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Since Batman INC #3 has been pushed back again, X-Men #33 will be this week's pick.

The history of the Proto Mutants is revealed! Mr. Grey makes his move against the X-Men! Colossus makes a decision that could endanger the entire team. Storm's field agents are kidnapped and a weapon of the X-Men's making goes missing.

Unable to get a print copy of this week's pick? You can find (legal) digital copies of it here and here.

(Though the print copy is a better deal, since that comes with a redeemable digital copy)

Rules and whatnot:

Review as often or as little as you like. Once you've posted 5 reviews, you will be awarded 1 pick. You can post 5 reviews, right? That's a totally achievable goal and with day and date digital releases becoming the standard, it shouldn't matter if your shop ordered enough copies of this weeks comic or not.

When multiple Review Groupers have posted 5 (or more) qualifying reviews, they will be awarded their pick in the order that they qualified. What constitutes a qualifying review? Any review posted (with a score on a scale from 0-10, that's right 0!) within 1 calendar month of the thread going live. Reviews posted while waiting in line for your pick will be applied to your next pick.

I'll be keeping track of everyone's progress with the newly christened Spreadsheet of Fantastic (RIP, Spreadsheet of Doom) and reporting the results in the Current Members list in the weekly OP. When it's your turn to make a pick, I will PM you. If you do not respond to me by Midnight EST the following Sunday, you will lose your pick and I will start a poll to determine that week's selection.

Any week in which we do not have a Review Grouper with 5 qualifying picks, we will determine the week's comic via poll.

If it's your week to pick, remember to keep it under $3.99.

Naturally, this new system is new and it may be necessary to make changes as we go.

X-Men #33 is a decent book, but if feels so out of place in current X-Continuity that I'm not sure what to make of it. It's the resolution to Brian Wood's first story arc on the book, and while the writing is solid, the "we've just discovered there are creatures similar to mutants and it changes everything!!!" is something that we just saw a few years ago in X-Men: Legacy, and probably several times before that too, so it feels kind of ho-hum. The art is very nice, though storms looks a little like jailbait on the cover. I want to like this, but, through no fault of its own, I'm feeling a little burnt out on X-Books. It's just hard to appreciate a decent X-story when the franchise is being systematically decimated by Marvel editorial over in the Avengers vs. X-Men event. As such, I can't bring myself to care much either way, and I need to give this a 5/10.

James Asmus (w) Clay Mann (a/C) Variant Cover by TBD • ALL-NEW ONGOING SERIES! • When Marvel’s premiere thief sets his sights on his biggest score yet, he may just end up over his head. It’s going to take more than just playing cards and southern charm to get out of this one! •BONUS! Bella Donna is NOT in this issue! 32 PGS./Rated T+ …$2.99

Back in the 90's and the 00's, Uncanny X-Men and X-Men were both highly important to the X-Men franchise. While the importance of the two titles tended to fluctuate between the two, a normal fan could gather that the story would have some strong impact on the X-Men in the present and in the future. When X-Men became X-Men Legacy, Uncanny X-Men became the major X-title. Years later, X-Men (the title) would return but it would still play second fiddle to Uncanny X-Men. X-Men: Regenesis only made things worse for the title when Wolverine and the X-Men became an "essential" title for those wanting to follow the major events surrounding those involved with the X-Men.

With this in mind, it's easy to see that what Brian Wood is setting up could be a gamechanger......if it was taken place in another title. In Uncanny X-Men or Wolverine and the X-Men, the discovery of previously-existing variations of mutants would be a big company focal point. Here, it's simply the groundwork for what Wood is setting up for his run. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed his writing (though the Scott/Storm/Colossus divide is just...there to me). However, the lack of importance placed upon this discover by Marvel is a whole cuts the potential for what could be a very tense and exciting time in X-lore.

Maybe I'll be proven wrong, but it just doesn't seem that this will be another one of those "secrets involving your heroes that even they didn't know about" tales that ultimately gets buried into obscurity because it was lacking in attention. At least, David Lopez and company bring on the art. I could overlook this if the writing was damn good, but it's simply entertaining.

yeah when does this book take place? I've been reading other X type books so this one was kind of a surprise....there were no phoenix x-men and psylocke was...well alive. Yeah this book made me lose interest and the art was nothing to write home about.

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doombug wrote:You really are the george carlin of the outhouse. that's fucking hilarious.

doombug wrote:and yeah, Yoni called it.

I feel like a condemned building with a brand new flag pole.- Les Paul